Our diverse business operations cover: home improvement and outdoor living; apparel and general merchandise; office supplies; and an Industrials division with businesses in chemicals, energy and fertilisers, and industrial and safety products.

The Wesfarmers Way

Wesfarmers’ primary objective is to provide a satisfactory return to shareholders.

Wesfarmers’ primary objective is to deliver satisfactory returns to shareholders through financial discipline and exceptional management of a diversified portfolio of businesses. A key focus of the Group is ensuring that each of our divisions has a strong management capability that is accountable for strategy development and execution, as well as day-to-day operational performance. Each division is overseen by a divisional board of directors or steering committee that includes the Wesfarmers Managing Director and Chief Financial Officer, and is guided by a Group-wide operating cycle and governance framework.

The Wesfarmers Way

The Wesfarmers Way is the framework for the company’s business model and comprises core values, growth enablers and value-creating strategies directed at achieving the Group’s primary objective of providing a satisfactory return to shareholders.

A core attribute of the Wesfarmers operating model is that each of our businesses operates with a high degree of autonomy. Rather than mandating detailed strategies orimplementation plans, the Group focuses on ensuring that the following six key enablers are in place in our businesses, with a goal of driving operating performance to best practice.

Outstanding people

Wesfarmers seeks to be an employer of choice. Attracting outstanding people and utilising their individual talents is the most critical element in striving for sustainable success. Wesfarmers recognises that while great assets and strategies are critical, it is people who ultimately drive outcomes.

Commercial excellence

Wesfarmers seeks to ensure that it employs strong financial discipline in all of its decisions across the Group. Wesfarmers has a clear bias towards promoting strong commercial capability across its leadership base.

Empowering culture

Wesfarmers recognises that an empowering culture is critical to engendering accountability for delivering the results agreed upon through the Group’s corporate planning framework. Wesfarmers uses stretch targets in objective setting and encourages team members to be proactive in driving the creation of value in their businesses.

Innovation

Wesfarmers seeks to develop a culture that encourages innovation, and rewards entrepreneurial initiative and creativity.

Social responsibility

Respect for employees, customers and suppliers and a relentless focus on providing safe workplaces are fundamental to the way that Wesfarmers operates. Wesfarmers’
social responsibility extends to maintaining high standards of ethical conduct, environmental responsibility and community contribution.

Robust financial capacity

By maintaining a strong balance sheet, the Group aims to provide a competitive cost and access to capital in order to allow the Group to invest in its existing portfolio of businesses and to act when value-creating opportunities present themselves.

Each strategy is underpinned by the Group’s well established strategic planning framework. A key attribute of this approach is the maintenance of a long-term focus and acting sustainably in the creation of value and the building of businesses.

At a divisional level, detailed strategies are developed specific to the opportunities to improve each of these individual businesses.